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Synagogue in Manchester Attacked, Two Jewish Men Killed During Yom Kippur; U.S. Government Shutdown on Third Day; Flotilla Intercepted Carrying Aid to Gaza; Done Sightings in Munich Airport Pauses Flights, Putin Ridicules Incident; Taylor Swift Drops New Album; Taylor Swift Drops New, Eagerly Anticipated Studio Album; Astronomers Watching Rogue Planet That Behaves Like A Star. Aired 2- 2:45a ET

Aired October 03, 2025 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom." A deadly attack at a synagogue on the Holy Estate in the Jewish calendar. We have the latest from Manchester, England.

A wave of drone sightings shut down another European airport. Thousands of passengers are fleeing the impact.

And this --

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UNKNOWN: When I needed advice, I went to Taylor. Like, she has a song for everything.

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BRUNHUBER: Taylor Swift drops her 12th studio album. U.K.'s biggest Swiftie joins me to break it all down.

Police in Manchester, England call it the terrorist incident. Two people killed and several others injured in a stabbing and car ramming at a Jewish synagogue. It happened on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, as people gathered for a morning prayer service. A video obtained by CNN shows two people being arrested nearby. Police say three people are in custody. The two people killed have been identified as 53-year-old Adrian Dalby and 66-year-old Melvin Kravitz.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed the nation Thursday, specifically the Jewish community, to convey his condolences. Here he is.

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KEIR STARMER, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: To every Jewish person in this country, I also want to say this. I know how much fear you will be holding inside of you. I really do. And so on behalf of our country, I express my solidarity, but also my sadness that you still have to live with these fears. Nobody should have to do that. Nobody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Anti-Semitic incidents have been on the rise over the past few years in the U.K. 2023 and 2024 were record breaking. These types of incidents have become more frequent since the October 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. CNN's Nic Robertson has more, but first we just want to warn you his report does contain some graphic content.

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UNKNOWN: Everybody else, get back!

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): As the injured lay in the street, armed police shout at the alleged attacker whom they identify as Jihad al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent whom they say was wearing what appeared to be an explosive device.

Then shoot as he refuses to comply. The deadly events unfolding early Thursday morning outside a synagogue in the northern city Manchester on the holiest day of the year for the Jewish community, Yom Kippur. Gary Wernick was inside the synagogue.

GARY WERNICK, SURVIVOR OF SYNAGOGUE ATTACK: I saw somebody I knew sitting in a chair or being put in a chair covered with blood and I realized it was not a place for me to be. I went back. At that point I knew it was a serious incident.

ROBERTSON (on camera): And what do you think can happen at that moment?

WERNICK: Get killed.

ROBERTSON: You thought that could happen to you?

WERNICK: Yeah. Yeah.

ROBERTSON: You might die.

WERNICK: Yes.

LAURENCE TAYLOR, HEAD, UNITED KINGDOM COUNTER TERRORISM POLICE: Two people have died. The attacker has been shot dead by the police. Based on what we know, counterterrorism policing has declared this as a terrorist incident.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): In this exclusive CNN video shot in a residential street barely a quarter mile from the synagogue, two 30- year-old men were arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism and taken away. Police say a 60-year- old woman arrested on the same charges too.

Do you feel safe living in the U.K. now?

WERNICK: The reason I think is always been unsafe.

ROBERTSON: Is this a safe place to bring your girls up?

WERNICK: No.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Police also praising the public for their quick actions, preventing even more bloodshed.

SIR STEPHEN WATSON, CHIEF CONSTABLE, GREATER MANCHETER POLICE: There were a large number of worshippers attending the synagogue at the time of this attack, but thanks to the immediate bravery of security staff and the worshipers inside as well as the fast response of the police the attacker was prevented from gaining access.

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ROBERTSON (voice-over): The attack so serious, the British Prime Minister cut short a trip to Denmark returning in a hurry to the U.K. to chair a meeting of his top security officials.

STARMER: I'm already able to say that additional police assets are being deployed to synagogues across the country and we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): For some, it will feel too little, too late. Across the U.K., anti-Semitic attacks have been on the rise. So too the fear that something like this could happen.

VICKY, MANCHESTER RESIDENT: We do have orthodox people on this road. They're probably not safe now and we have lots of children. For somebody to know today is Yom Kippur, I just feel this has been definitely planned.

(On camera): And after his security cabinet meeting, the British Prime Minister saying that this was an attack on Jews because they are Jews. Around here, people feel that this is one of the worst anti- Semitic attacks in the U.K. It is a collective trauma that will be felt way beyond the victims' family and friends.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. government shutdown has entered its third day and in the hours ahead we could get our first indication of just how severe the layoffs threatened by the White House might actually be. Trump administration has said the number of federal workers who will be fired is likely in the thousands and we've been told these aren't furloughs but permanent job cuts. Some key programs could also get slashed.

The U.S. Senate will reconvene in the coming days to hold another vote on the Republicans' short-term spending bill, but Democrats are expected to vote it down as they did earlier this week. Senators could work through the weekend and keep holding votes, but the Republican majority leader said he thinks that's unlikely, meaning there's a strong chance the shutdown will stretch into next week.

I want to bring in CNN senior political analyst and "Bloomberg" opinion columnist Ron Brownstein. Good to see you again. We've been here before, you and I talking about shutdowns, but Republicans seem to be operating from a different playbook this time, threatening to use this to cut programs and fire workers, sort of basically take this as an opportunity to do what DOGE couldn't do, I guess. Is this a new dynamic here? Is this something different from what we've seen before?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I think it is. I mean, I think that, you know, President Trump, as on many things, is willing to do things to advance his agenda and to really punish those parts of the country and parts of the coalition that he views as his adversaries that we had not seen previous presidents do. And it does add an extra layer of pressure on Democrats. It is largely the reason why Chuck Schumer chose not to shut down the government in the spring.

But even with all of this added pressure, you know, Democrats are fighting on ground that they feel fairly secure about, both in the sense that health care remains probably the only top tier issue on which more of the public expresses trust in them than Republicans and that the specific cuts that they are fighting against are very unpopular, particularly the ending of the enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which I think is the crux of this dispute.

BRUNHUBER: Okay, so for Democrats, I mean, that's the policy reason, but let's talk about the politics. I mean, how much of the motivation for Democrats is the amount of flack they've taken from their base that they're not doing enough to stand up to President Trump?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that, you know, this was unavoidable in that sense. I mean, you know, as I wrote this week, I mean, if you look across the board and all the things that are happening in the country with Trump firing prosecutors until he finds one who will indict a specific person that he dislikes, when he tells the military to prepare to fight the enemy from within, dispatches the National Guard to Oregon, has a military style ICE raid on an apartment building in Chicago and so forth, it's really hard to argue, Kim, that the most important problem facing the country is the exploration of these enhanced subsidies under the ACA.

But that does affect a lot of people. It is where congressional Democrats have chosen to draw the line. And I do think that it is -- you know, that the fact that they are fighting Trump here, as you suggest, and the fact that they're fighting him is at least as important as what they're fighting him about.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah.

BROWNSTEIN: And so, yes, I think there is pressure on them to not only precipitate this shutdown, but to hold the line for a while to show that they are pushing back at least in one area, even if I think it's hard to make the case this is the most urgent threat facing the country in Trump's second term. BRUNHUBER: It is for Democrats a high stakes gamble, I guess, for

both parties. So let's talk about the blame game here. Typically the party out of power takes the blame. But I saw a recent poll saying more people right now at least blame the Republicans.

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If that's true, do you expect that to hold once the effects of the shutdown actually start to bite?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, this is a little -- I'm trying to think. This is a little unusual in that it's a shutdown when one party has unified control of government. I mean, when Republicans shut down the government in '95, '96 and in 2013, it was Democratic controlled. Democrats controlled the White House and Republicans controlled at least one chamber of Congress. In 2018 you had kind of this weird shutdown precipitated almost from the top when Republicans controlled all three chambers.

Now you've got a shutdown when Republicans are, again, in control of all three chambers, you know, the House, the Senate, and the White House, all three levers of government. And I think it probably does scramble the idea in the public, you know, of who is responsible for running the government at this point.

I will say that whatever the immediate assessment of who won and lost in a shutdown, it's tougher to track the implications through the succeeding election, the '95, '96 shutdown did help Bill Clinton, the Democratic president. But Republicans kept control of both chambers and the '96 election. And while republicans were blamed in 2013, it didn't stop them from holding the house and winning the senate in 2014.

So, I'm not sure the long-term consequences, political consequences of this are going to be that immediate or predict or lasting or predictable, but I do think as you suggested, Democrats feel a lot of pressure to show that they are willing to fight Trump on something, somewhere, somehow.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and the effects of the blame, I guess, will depend a lot on how long this last. We shall see. Really appreciate getting your expertise on this. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration says that the U.S. is in, quote, "armed conflict with drug cartels." That's according to a notice the Pentagon provided to Congress that was obtained by CNN. The notice says the president has determined smugglers for the cartel are unlawful combatants. Seventeen people have been killed in three strikes on suspected smugglers over the past month.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government is criticizing Washington after it says it detected five U.S. combat planes flying near the Venezuelan coast. The White House says U.S. President Donald Trump will determine how

much time to give Hamas to accept a plan to end the war in Gaza. The president said on Tuesday they had three to four days to respond, which would be Friday or Saturday. Israel supports the U.S. plan. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas has been reviewing the 20-point proposal, which calls on the group to disarm, a move it has rejected in the past. The White House wouldn't explicitly say whether President Trump would enforce his deadline.

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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president made it very clear he wants to hear back from them very soon. I will leave it to the President or the Secretary of State to speak on that, but we expect and we hope that Hamas will accept the plan that was proposed by Special Envoy Witkoff. It's a good plan and as you know it's been applauded by leaders all over the world.

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BRUNHUBER: Amnesty International is condemning Israel's interception of a flotilla of ships carrying aid for Gaza, calling it a calculated act of intimidation. Hundreds of activists are detained and awaiting deportation from Israel after trying to break the country's years-long blockade of Gaza to deliver aid. The U.S. and Israel condemn the flotilla as a provocation. But in Europe and elsewhere, there have been widespread protests in solidarity with the group's efforts. CNN's Paula Hancock reports.

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PAULA HANCOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Water sprays the crew of a Gaza-bound aid ship. The Global Sumud Flotilla says one of its vessels was, quote, "deliberately rammed" and others targeted by water cannons by the Israeli military. One by one, dozens of vessels were intercepted in international waters and boarded by Israeli forces. Livestreams were cut, activists detained.

Numerous flotillas have tried to break Israel's 18-year blockade on Gaza in the past. All were intercepted by Israel or came under some form of attack. This is the largest flotilla to date. Organizers call the interception, quote, "an illegal attack," saying they were carrying food, medicine and baby formula. Israel says the activists were, quote, "not interested in aid, but in provocation."

As the interceptions began Wednesday night, pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets in Italy, Turkey and several other countries.

JUAN CARLOS GIORDANO, ARGENTINE LAWMAKER, FORMER FLOTILLA CREW MEMBER (through translation): This is a non-violent flotilla. We have no weapons. We carry medicine, food and serum to save lives.

HANCOCK (voice-over): Israel released footage of the most famous passenger, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, saying she is quote, "safe and healthy."

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GRETTA THUNBERG, SWEDISH ACTIVIST: If you are watching this video, I have been abducted and taken against my will by Israeli forces. Our humanitarian mission was non-violent and abiding by international law.

HANCOCK (voice-over): The Israeli Foreign Ministry says activists are being transported to Israel where their deportation to Europe will be processed.

In 2010, Israel's military killed nine Turkish nationals when it boarded the Mavi Marmara Flotilla trying to break the blockade. It sparked international outrage. More than 500 participants from dozens of different countries did not make it through the Israeli blockade, nor were they expected to. What they did was increase international scrutiny on the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza at a time that Israel finds itself increasingly isolated over its actions there. Paula Hancock, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

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BRUNHUBER: Indonesian authorities are switching from rescue to recovery as hope fades for the 59 people still missing under a collapsed school. At least five people were killed when the boarding school collapsed. Only a handful of survivors have been pulled from the twisted wreckage. A prayer hall at the school collapsed on Monday during afternoon prayers. The boarding school housed boys aged 12 to 18.

We're watching a developing story out of the Los Angeles area where a huge fire broke out earlier at Chevron refinery. KABC reports there was an explosion at the Chevron facility in El Segundo. Now we've seen fire crews working to put out the flames. We'll bring you more information as it comes into us here at CNN.

Well, mysterious drones shot near another airport in Europe causing a temporary shutdown. The disruption is affecting thousands of passengers.

Plus, what Russia's Vladimir Putin is saying about claims that he could be behind recent drone incidents. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The Munich airport is open again after closing temporarily because of drone sightings in the area. It was shut down for about seven hours on Thursday before resuming operations about three hours ago. The closure affected thousands of passengers. Unexplained drone sightings temporarily shut down airports in Denmark last week and there have been a series of suspected Russian airspace incursions into Poland, Estonia and Romania.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ridiculing claims that his country could be behind drone incidents in Denmark. The Danish prime minister said Russia may be behind the drone sightings but that there's no proof. Well, in an apparent joke, Putin said Thursday that Russia would stop sending drones to Denmark and to Lisbon, Portugal. And just to be clear, there have been no reports of drone sightings in Portugal. Here he is.

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VALDIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translation): We do not have any drones which can reach Lisbon. We have some long-range drones, but we do not have any targets there. This is the most important thing. But this is also just one of the ways to escalate the situation overall, to fulfill the directives of the Washington Command Center and to increase spending on the defense.

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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it's Putin who's escalating the situation, not NATO. Zelensky addressed a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen on Thursday. He said the Kremlin has been emboldened and if Moscow has its way, he says no place in Europe will be safe. Here he is.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: If the Russians dare to launch drones against Poland or violate the airspace of Northern European countries, it means this can happen anywhere. In Western Europe, in the South, we need fast and effective response and defense forces that know how to deal with drones.

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BRUNHUBER: More than 200 Ukrainians are back home after the latest prisoner swap with Russia. Zelenskyy says the exchange included more than 100 members of the military and 20 civilians. This video shows them meeting friends and relatives after their release. President Zelenskyy says more than 7,000 Ukrainians have been returned through exchanges since the start of Russia's invasion.

Well, Taylor Swift's newest album is out and fans are obviously ready for it. We'll have details of the singer's 12th studio album after the break. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Taylor Swift's eagerly awaited 12th studio album was released about two hours ago. It's a mix of breezy and literary ballads with a total runtime of about 42 minutes. How was it?

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(SINGING) So I say, thank you for the lovely bouquet. I'm married to the hustle and now I know the life of a showgirl, babe. And I'll never know another --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: "The Life of a Showgirl" features 12 songs Swift said she wrote while on her Eras Tour last year. It's about her experiences during the tour and her life with fiance, American football player Travis Kelsey. Now earlier, fans showed they're more than ready for the new music. Swifties in Minnesota lined up well before the midnight release time to buy the album and maybe share some trivia about their favorite artist.

All right, joining me now is John Jacob Wembridge, who is known as the U.K.'s ultimate Swifty, and he leads a Taylor Swift tour in London. Thanks so much for being here with us. Listen, I listened to the album, but nobody is interested in my opinion on this. I mean, you basically live and breathe Taylor Swift. So let's start with the obvious question. You've heard it. What do you think?

JOHN JACOB WEMBRIDGE, SWIFTIE TOUR GUIDE, U.K.'s BIGGEST SWIFTIE: I really, really, really like it. Shocked. I know.

BRUNHUBER: No surprise.

WEMBRIDGE: I'm not going to say I hate that line. But I know genuinely I really, I was a bit worried. I was a bit unsure about it at first, but as soon as it started, I was just kind of sold instantly.

[02:30:05]

BRUNHUBER: So, what makes it maybe different than what she's done before? If you look at sort of this as a -- as a whole, as part of an oeuvre, I guess this is her 12th original album. How different is it from what she's done before?

WEMBRIDGE: I think definitely the fact that she's gone back to working with producers that she's not worked with for quite a long time. And I think you can hear that straight away as well, because the minute the first song starts, I'm -- I'm a very big fan, obviously, and I've loved all the stuff that she's been doing the last few years.

She's been working with Jack Antonoff quite a lot as a producer, and it's really great, but it's quite heavy stuff sometimes, and I think this instantly just seemed more fun. I think you can kind of tell how much fun she was having on tour as she was writing this. I don't know, you kind of feel that there's a lot of times where you can actually hear her smiling while she's singing, instead of kind of the heart wrenching stuff that we've kind of got used to over the last few years.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah.

WEMBRIDGE: But kind of --

BRUNHUBER: It's -- it's -- I wonder how much of that lighter touch has to do. You mentioned the producers, Max Martin and Shellback, the Swedish producers. How much of it has to do with their lighter touch and how much has to do with her own life, and, you know, her relationship with Travis Kelce, which apparently, she talks about in, you know, in glowing terms on the album.

What did -- what did you hear specifically sort of that was speaking to you?

WEMBRIDGE: I mean, the first song, the fate of Ophelia, I that just seemed really different to me straight away. And I was kind of like I said, I was frantically like, messaging my friend who was also awake at 5:00.

So I'm not the only one, but, we kind of were saying, I feel like a lot of the stuff lately has been, especially the tortured poets department, because it was so long, you could kind of say, oh, this sounds like a song from red. This sounds a bit like a song from midnights. This sounds, you know, you can kind of reputation that you could kind of place them on different albums.

Whereas I feel like with this it sounds really new, like it doesn't, you know, we haven't had stuff like this from her, not for a really long time anyway. Yeah.

BRUNHUBER: Let's widen it out and look at the phenomenon that is Taylor Swift. I mean, you saw it yourself last summer. The Eras Tour was a huge economic boost to London. Do you think were going to see that all over again?

WEMBRIDGE: I mean, the fact that she didn't even release a single in the lead up to this album being released, and she's just dropped it without any kind of none of us knew what it was going to sound like or anything like that. I think that kind of speaks for itself a little bit. That is probably going to be okay, I think.

She kind of knows what she's doing. She knows she's - I mean, her fan base is so solid, obviously. But definitely kind of, I don't know, listening to a lot of the songs, I felt like they might appeal to kind of a wider range as well. I feel like my mom and dad will listen to it and like it. It's, you know, not just the fans.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So, I mentioned you lead a Taylor Swift tour. I mean, briefly, you know, tell me, what is that exactly? And are you combing through this album, listening to it, trying to find hooks and, and locations that you might be able to add to your tour?

WEMBRIDGE: I would love to. I feel like she might not write about London anymore, maybe. But no, definitely. I mean, there's kind of -- there's a lot to take from it, like lyric-wise.

But, no, the tours really great. I mean, last summer was kind of a much bigger thing because obviously the Eras Tour was going on and she was here. So, the whole of London was kind of Swiftified. But yeah, we kind of go around locations that she sings about, places she used to visit, places that have inspired her to write specific songs and stuff.

She was in London when she wrote "Clean", which is my favorite Taylor Swift song. So kind of working around that. It's quite a personal tour, actually, but people seem to like it, which is a good, good thing, I suppose.

BRUNHUBER: Listen, we only have a minute left, and this is kind of a heavy question, but I did want to ask it. Youve been a Swiftie since you were 13. You said that her music has really helped you through rough times.

So, for those of us who maybe not fans, sort of explain why she's become more than just a big pop star to superfans like yourself? Why does her music mean so much to you personally?

WEMBRIDGE: I think she really finds a way to write about herself, like her own experiences, but she writes about it in a way that resonates with -- I mean, billions of people around the world, you know, just it's the fact that it's so personal, like it's, you know, a Taylor Swift song when you hear a Taylor Swift song, you know, it's so personal and intimate in a way, it feels like you know her in a weird kind of parasocial way. But like, we all, you know, we all just relate to the things that she writes about and sings about and so personally.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, listen, so much excitement over this album. No matter what the critics say, I know fans like yourself will be celebrating.

[02:35:03]

So, we'll let you go and enjoy, maybe another listen to this.

John Jacob Wembridge in London, thank you so much.

WEMBRIDGE: Thank you. Thanks. Bye-bye.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Stay with us here on CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be back with more.

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[02:40:01]

BRUNHUBER: Astronomers are keeping close watch on an unusual planet they say actually behaves more like a star. New research published in the astrophysical journal letters reveals the rogue planet is 620 light years from Earth, with a mass five to 10 times that of Jupiter. Scientists say the planet has had a massive growth spurt unlike anything previously seen in a free floating planet, and is getting bigger every second.

Astronomers discovered the rogue planet in 2008. They believe it's just an infant at about one to two million years old.

All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with today's top headlines.

"WORLD SPORT" is next.

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(WORLD SPORT)